St. Edward puts faith in action during Day of Caring

St. Edward School held a Day of Caring, with a focus on hunger and homelessness, for its students on Friday, Oct. 20. Students heard from advocates for the homeless and helped distribute food to the hungry, among other activities. St. Edward Spanish teacher Amanda Eaton, above, shows a class what a typical homeless person’s camp looks like. Photo by Andy Telli

Every day the students at St. Edward School learn about the Catholic faith in religion classes. But the faculty and staff wanted to find a way to help their students learn to put their faith into action.

So St. Edward’s first Day of Caring was born.

“Hopefully, annually we’ll do this event,” said St. Edward Principal Marsha Wharton. “It goes with our mission statement that says, in part, “Embrace and model the gospel through service to our community and the world.”

This year’s Day of Caring was focused on hunger and homelessness. St. Edward students spent the day of Friday, Oct. 20, hearing from homeless advocates about what life is like for the people living on the streets and from representatives of Second Harvest Food Bank about the problem of hunger in the community.

The older students also went to work, helping at various social service agencies that feed the hungry and working in the school’s vegetable garden, the fruits of which have been used to feed the hungry, Wharton said. Approximately 200 pounds of vegetables from the garden has been donated to feed the homeless so far this school year.

“Today is a way of living (the faith) and bringing it out to the world,” Wharton said.

The Day of Caring also was a way of honoring the feast day of the school’s patron saint, St. Edward, who was known for serving the poor. But because his feast day, Oct. 13, fell during the school’s fall break, the staff decided to move the event to Oct. 20, Wharton said.

The week leading up to the Day of Caring, teachers led their students in discussions of hunger and homelessness to prepare them for the event, Wharton said.

The younger children in grades kindergarten through fifth grade participated in activities in the building. Ray Telford, a man who started living on the streets as a teenager and stayed there for more than three decades, spoke to the students about his life.

The school’s Spanish teacher, Amanda Eaton, who also works with the homeless, showed the students a makeshift homeless tent.

The younger students also put together “blessing bags” that contain snacks, travel-size toiletries, a bottle of water, grooming supplies and other items useful for people living on the street. Families can keep “blessing bags” in their car and hand them out to people in need.

The older students went out to the community to live their faith, helping with a fresh food giveaway held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, unloading trucks and stocking shelves at local food pantries such as the The Little Pantry and the McGruder Family Resource Center in North Nashville and Room In The Inn, and helping to serve lunch at the Nashville Rescue Mission.

The sixth grade classes worked in the school’s garden, planting winter vegetables, and putting down mulch.

The Day of Caring didn’t end on Oct. 20, The school will work with Catholic Charities of Tennessee to host at Hunger Banquet for St. Edward Families 5-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14.

The goal of the Hunger Banquet is to simulate the imbalanced distribution of food in the world. Each guest draws a ticket randomly assigning them to the high-, middle- or low-income tier. The numbers are distributed to each tier to match the statistics from the World Development Report.

Each tier gets a corresponding meal. The 15 percent in the high-income tier are served a sumptuous gourmet meal. The 25 percent in the middle-income tier eat a simple meal of beans and rice. The 60 percent in the low-income tier wait in line for small portions of rice and water.

Organizers hope the Hunger Banquet participants will leave with a better understanding of the problems of global hunger and inspired to help find a solution.

The Hunger Banquet is open to both families with students in St. Edward School and the parish’s religious education program.